All Trails Lead Home
by I.J.Girl
Summary: First a team, and then family; amid the evolution of the Kratt brothers' relationships with the team, they begin to realize they have lost something vital to themselves: Creature Adventuring. Amid this discovery, a new threat appears. A threat that has been following them for years without them even knowing. Sequel to Two Little Butterflies. OCs, Caviva. Warnings inside.
1. The Question

**Hey Everyone! ^^ I know it's been a long time since I wrote for Wild Kratts, I hope you all forgive me that now that I have, it's got OCs. I know some people might find it annoying; Speaking of OCs, I'd like to note that KATE CORCOVADO is not _mine, _she is WildKrattsSuperFan1's OC, and that I also do not own Wild Kratts.**

**I do however, own Disney. SO STOP MAKING FROZEN CROSSOVERS. XD JK, I love those stories, point me in the direction of a few good ones, yeah? **

**But no kidding, I own Ayla Banebridge/Kratt, and New Jersey. IT'S ALL MINE, STINKERS. :P XD On with the story!**

**EDIT: Shoot, I'm sorry, I forgot the warnings. I'll probably post them as they're relative by chapter, but in general this is the stuff that's included: mildly graphic descriptions of childbirth(later on) the normal rounds of Zach's torturing of Kate, mild sensuality that might get a tiny bit much, descriptions of injuries, pain, possible character deaths, a bit of sci-fi and guestimation-science, world hopping, eventual explorations of alternate universes, brief mentions of child abuse but nothing graphic(I don't think), uhm...uhm...I don't know. If WildKrattsSuperFan1 gets on and reviews, she can point out anything else she deems worthy of warning about. ^^**

* * *

It figured that it would take both of them nearly dying again for him to propose. Aviva stared at Chris, sitting on his hospital bed across from her, one arm in a sling from having been pulled out of the joint and gauze wrapped around his middle to cover the angry red cut across his abdomen, still fighting an infection that could take his life even now. His skin was pale from his fever, and face flushed as he held her cold hand in his burning one, quietly admitting that he was afraid of losing her and not having truly taken advantage of their time together. She glanced down at herself, her loose hair tumbling over her shoulders into her face and tried to see what he could see of her right now. She was dressed in the same loose, shapeless hospital gown, that he was in, her leg in a cast because of a simple fracture, and her arms were covered in sickly red and yellow bruises. There were three tiny stitches above her left eye that made it feel incredibly awkward to close that eyelid, and her lip was swollen from having been hit with a vase and cracked open. Any larger and the doctor would have had to stitch that too.

They were both bruised, and both had nearly died. It was one of the first times, actually, that they had felt mortal; after their success rate, it had been easy to assume they'd simply pull through anything, and live long lives...But now...

Her hand squeezed his tighter, and she carefully stood up, twisting around to sit next to him in his bed, wrapping her arms around him. She could feel him tense, could feel the apology rising in his throat, could feel the agony in his heart and the resignation to the rejection he assumed was coming, and whispered quietly in his ear, "Yes, I will marry you, you stupid creature adventurer."

Chris almost seemed to jump, and he turned to look at her, all the guards that he normally had up down and his heart on his sleeve, "Really? You don't think I'm delusional from the pain meds or the fever?"

"No. You're already delusional without those," she grinned, and pressed close to him, or as close as their wounds would let them. He huffed, pouting, and she couldn't resist a quiet chuckle at how incredibly attractive he looked, beat up as he was. She pulled his head down slightly and kissed him, gently, noting the intense heat of his fever, "I said yes because I love you. You've been my best friend, a father to my daughter, someone who can understand and live with me despite me being...well, me. I know, I fly off the handle at you guys sometimes, and I'm not the most patient of people-"

"You have been more patient since Kate," he interjected and she poked him(carefully, on his uninjured shoulder).

"Hey! Pouring my heart out here. Anyway, I was just saying...if you want to marry me, and be tied to all that baggage you know I'm carrying...How could I say no? To my best friend, to my amazing boyfriend, to the guy who goes and repeatedly gets himself nearly killed on a monthly basis? To the guy who's eyes light up like fireflies only whenever some amazing new creature is mentioned, or when I walk in the room? I love you, and if you love me, then I absolutely want to get married. Right now even."

Chris chuckled, "You want to elope?"

"What? No, of course not!" Aviva laughed, leaning into him to half knock him off balance, "You better get me a proper wedding, Mister. I want it all, the quaint little church, the white dress, the flowers, the bridesmaids, my parents, your parents, Kate and Ayla as our flower girls-"

"How about just Kate?"

"Ayla would be bummed."

Chris smirked, with a knowing look in his eyes, "Not for long..."

Aviva's eyes widened, "What?! Seriously?"

Chris laughed, his brown eyes twinkling, "Shh, don't tell him I told you."

Aviva shook her head, "Huh, well, I am definitely NOT having a double wedding."

"Nope," Chris grinned, resting his head on hers for a moment, "So you mean it? You'll marry me?"

"Quit asking me that or I'll think you didn't really mean to propose! I mean, you didn't even get me a ring or anything!"

"Ah..."

"Wait a minute...Where is it?"

"Tortuga..."

"What?!"

"Martin dragged me off with him! I saw one that made me think of you, and I figured I was already there so why not. I mean...We've talked about it, and when I saw the ring...it just seemed like the right thing to do," he shrugged, and surprised when Aviva grabbed him and pulled him into a painful, feverish kiss, pulling away with his hiss of pain.

"Sorry! Sorry!" she let go, a look of sympathy pain on her face, and he gave her a forced smile.

"It's fine," he groaned. She frowned at him.

"Liar."

"Love you too."

* * *

"Dude, you totally stole my thunder," Martin plopped himself down next to Chris, who carefully wound his healing shoulder around and around to keep it from getting stiff. Chris frowned, too focused on the exorbitant prices on the cake catalog Aviva had given him to look through to infer what his brother meant.

"What?"

"You! Proposing! That was my idea!"

"You wanted to propose to Koki sitting half dead in a smelly hospital room?" Chris smirked as Martin shoved him playfully.

"Of course not, but I was going to propose that month. I had it all planned out, too, until Team Wild Freaks attacked."

Team Wild Freaks was the name Ayla had given to the clones of Martin, Chris, Aviva, Koki and Jimmy Z that Zach had made around the year she was born. Chris had been taken and replaced by his clone, the first and only one to successfully adapt to human life, who had eventually rebelled and helped the team get Chris back. The clone, formerly known as X-97, renamed himself Xavier and after a brief amount of time with them, had buzz-cut his hair and taken off to forge a new life for himself, apart from both the person who made him and the person he was made after.

The rest of the clones rebelled as well after developing psychological defects, inabilities to adapt to normal lives, and a rather alarming lack of respect for human life, including themselves. They named themselves as well, though mostly after the Wild Kratts team; Mace was Martin's clone, Athena was Aviva's, Kara was Koki's and Jordan was Jimmy Z's...though he was mostly called Doc J, after he took to studying medical books. A younger clone of Chris had been taken as well, and they named him Clark; he had developmental issues and despite physically being roughly 17 years old, he couldn't read and barely knew how interact with people. What he did know how to do was build weapons of mass destruction; he helped Athena build their Medusa*, a jellyfish shaped ship that they all lived in, modeled quite closely after the Tortuga's operating systems.

_They_ called themselves Team Medusa; apparently the trigger for them attacking and putting Chris and Aviva in the hospital stemmed from the fact that Mace and Athena had just gotten together and thought it was sickening that Chris and Aviva were together instead of Martin and Aviva.

Just turned seven year old Kate had noted that it was ironic that the forces trying to tear them apart brought them even closer together than before.

Speaking of Kate, she was currently curled up under Aviva's arm as she and Koki oohed and ahhed over the ring...again. They were supposed to be discussing a good location that was easy to access by both Chris and Martin's family in New Jersey and Aviva's in New York; Aviva wanted a small wedding, only family and friends, but her mom kept pushing for a larger one, wanting to invite all of Aviva's childhood friends and their parents, much to her annoyance.

"Yeah, well, sorry," Chris rolled his eyes and Martin shoved him again.

"I don't need your pity," Martin sniffed, mock insulted, before laughing and dropping a stack of catalogs and magazines in front of Chris, "Yeesh, who knew weddings were such hard work?"

"Our sisters."

"Hah!" Martin laughed, remembering the stressed out last minute things that their sisters had freaked out over at their weddings, "At least mine won't be so much work."

"Oh? How come?"

"Yours and Aviva's will eliminate half of all the choices, judging from the marks in these," Martin laughed, and now Chris shoved him, "Looks like a celebrity is getting married, not my little bro!"

"Haha, very funny. You still don't even know if yours is happening yet."

"Oooh, ouch. That's low," Martin laughed, shaking his head as six year old Ayla bounded up to them.

"Uncle Chris?"

"Yeah?"

"Need help with my math," she complained, plopping herself down on Martin's lap as he scowled playfully.

"What am I, furniture?"

The blue eyed little girl giggled, "Yup. 'Sides, you told me last time to go ask Uncle Chris 'bout it, so there."

"Little rascal."

"Big rascal," Ayla curled up on Martin's lap while handing Chris her math problems, "See, they're making me divide stuff-"

"Wait," Martin snatched the book out of Chris' hand before his brother could protest, "This isn't your math book from school, Ayla."

"Nope. It's for next grade. I asked Miss Robertson if I could have it to try it out," Ayla grinned proudly as Martin's eyes widened and Chris gave an appreciative whistle.

"Wow. Maybe they should test you to see if you can skip a grade?" Chris took back the book, glancing over the work Ayla had done, most of it correct. Ayla's smile fell and she shook her head adamantly.

"No! Then Kate and I will be in separate classes! All those pranks and all the trouble I got myself into to get the teachers to put us together will have been wasted!"

Both fathers frowned at their niece/daughter, and she shrunk, trying to maintain an innocent look on her face.

"What?"

Martin sighed, shaking his head, "I think your Uncle Chris is right, Ayla, we should see if we can test you for a higher grade."

"No!" Ayla pouted, and Chris frowned, "Look, I'll just work on stuff like that here. School is prison and Kate is the only person I know there...Well, except for Estevan. But he's Kate's friend, so he doesn't count."

Martin snorted as Chris grimaced at the mention of the boy Kate had a crush on. It was the last thing he wanted for his girl so young, but he could hardly scold the children for an infatuation. Ayla thought it was hilarious, and teased Kate mercilessly over it, while Martin thought Chris' reactions were hilarious and teased _him_ mercilessly about it.

"_What if it was _your _daughter?!" Chris had protested. Martin giggled, a little giddy from a sugar rush after eating half the chocolate in the Tortuga._

"_I'd adopt the kid and make him her brother so that it would be impossible and she'd learn to hate him."_

"_Martin!"_

"_Seriously!"_

"_I _am_ talking seriously! You're the one that's not."_

"_Fine. I'd let Koki handle it."_

"_Uuughhhh!"_

"Okay, Ayla, but I'm still talking to your mom about it," Martin narrowed his eyes at Ayla, who pouted, "Now! You're dividing hundreds by tens?"

"Yeah, and it's awful complicated. It's got like layers you have to work in and I can't figure it out."

* * *

**More of a prologue than anything...I hope you all enjoyed it, and expect more, uhm...next week? *shrug* I don't know. Maybe you guys can like post your ideas for the next chapter, or so on? GOODNIGHT Y'ALL I SHALL NOW CRASH. *falls into bed***


	2. Wedding Bells

**Hi everyone! I just wanna thank the people that reviewed for reviewing, and here you go! Second Chappieeeeeeeeeee! **

* * *

Chris shifted back and forth from one foot to the other, suddenly realizing that he had entrusted the wedding rings to _Martin._ Martin the_ prankster_. Martin, his brother who _probably_ decided to go off and do something ridiculous with Ayla and end up losing the wedding rings or leaving them unattended long enough for Zach to get at them and implant mind control devices or something equally awful. Zach, coincidentally, was invited by Aviva's mom because the science camp graduates had kept up a rather long mail correspondence. Her mom had thought they were pen pals, but the letters had been filled with nothing but insults and angry discussions of scientific theories and how stupid each other's ideas were and how they were going to show the other one. One they had started college, the letters had stopped, but moms being moms, Aviva's thought it would be a sweet surprise.

It was a surprise, alright, when Zach swooped in, sans Zach-bots, with a pretty blonde on his arm and acted like they were long lost friends, making subtle impositions and threats as Aviva tried to not make her mom feel as if she'd failed epically at her one job; Ayla self appointed herself the 'Zach-sitter' and linked arms with the pretty blonde, who's hair was half dyed black and made herself fast friends with the sweet, but ditzy blonde, who's name was Danielle Microtel. She later walked up to her dad with an astonished look on her face and announced, "She's sweet, but I don't know how Zach stands her!"

"Ayla!"

"No, no, I LOVE Dani, she's amazing, and cool but Zach is...Zach! And he actually seems to really like her! It's so weird and creepy! I never thought Zach of all people would be like that, dad, and she's so different than him it's weird that he can stand her at all."

Martin looked and found the two fighting over something – one of Danielle's public displays of affection – and saw how the woman stopped fighting, crossed her arms and pouted, her innocence rolling off of her in waves as Zach halfheartedly glared back at her, only to sigh and throw his arms in the air, complaining again, and she grinned, throwing herself forward and hugging him, giving him a quick, tender peck on the cheek and speaking quickly with such a look of tender adoration in her eyes that Zach blushed and gave her a quick, awkward kiss on the cheek before shoving her off roughly. She laughed, waving her finger at him before linking arms again with him and they moved on.

It was a strange, tender moment he knew Zach would have much rather have had in the privacy of his dark, private mansion, but it shed a bit of light on both the woman and their relationship. He found himself smiling, hoping that maybe the kidnappings and attacks from Zach would, at the very least lessen, if not vanish completely. He didn't expect Zach to change, but at least, if he really loved the blonde, some part of his bitterness could leave.

"I get it," he answered his daughter, who gave him a weird look, and shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine...Can Dani and I be pen pals?"

"No!"

"But-!"

"Two words, Ayla Jeanine Banebridge._ Zach. Varmitech._"

The wedding was simple, like Aviva wanted, and relatively large, as her mother had pushed for. Chris could care less about most of the stuff as long as there was enough food for the guests and space for them to sit...both of which they almost didn't have enough of. He and Aviva had argued quite spectacularly earlier in the morning, and his stomach churned at the thought of having to face an angry bride later tonight. He hadn't meant to get as angry as he had over not being prepared, and he hadn't meant to upset Aviva as much as he had, and there had been so much going on, that whenever he had tried to apologize they had been pulled apart again, needed here, needed there, and he still hadn't been able to properly apologize.

As it turned out, the minister that was going to preside over the sermon had fallen ill that same day, and Aviva's father, a small Hispanic man with a deep, but energetic voice stepped up with the announcement that he was an ordained minister. The last thing Chris had expected was to have his future father in-law presiding over the whole affair, but there it was. He wondered if the man knew about his falling out with Aviva, and suddenly dreaded the moment she and the short man with cunning eyes walked down the aisle.

JZ marched around, preparing food and laying it out alongside maid-of-honor Koki and excited little bridesmaid Ayla, who kept glancing at him and then at the door. Chris expected some sort of spectacular prank waiting him and Aviva once they walked out, and wondered how exactly to get back at Martin for the prank- only to have everything else fade to gray as the music started and Kate walked down the aisle, maybe a _little_ big for the role of flower girl, but with her wide eyes and soft, rounded features, and the delicate little dress she wore, she hardly looked older than five.

He smiled, proud of his little girl for a moment, until he noticed Zach watching her with the same look of pride and the faintest bit of a smile on his lips. He felt his stomach churn again, making a note to talk to Koki about keeping a very close eye on Kate while he and Aviva were on their honeymoon.

His thoughts were jarred once more by the sudden appearance of white in his vision, and Chris felt his breath blown away by Aviva's appearance.

Her dark brown hair, normally swept up away from her face, was intricately curled and braided, splayed, wavy and loose, over her exposed shoulders, a necklace of glittering opal at her neck, her birthstone, arrayed in the Wild Kratts paw print. Her dress fit snugly over her torso, before opening into ripples of white and lime green, tiny vines embroidered into the hem and rippling upwards, a simple, yet beautiful pattern with delicate yellow and blue flowers.

Definitely not traditional, but breathtakingly beautiful. Chris hardly noticed his future father in law taking the podium, his eyes transfixed on Aviva.

As it turned out, Chris' fears about the ring were unfounded, and Martin, who was also his best man, delivered the rings on time, and without any sort of terrifying adjustments done to them. The service seemed to fly by, and the vows they had carefully hand written each other were spoken, and Aviva's father gave a simple, yet powerful speech on love, fatherhood and marriage...most of which, Chris was sure was tailored just for him.

Danielle caught the wedding bouquet, Martin caught the 'leg band', as the girls called it, and everyone seemed happy except for Zach and some other random blonde woman in the background; after people started to leave and it was time to send the newlyweds off, Aviva and Chris walked through the door and were immediately rewarded by _twenty bags_ of rice dumped on them from above...Which of course, Martin blamed on Ayla and hugged them both while trying to hide tears and sent them off, running away before he could get a lecture, to supposedly scold Ayla for the prank.

Zach tried to sneak out, dragging Danielle out as she attempted to say goodbye to each and every person they came across, only to bump into Chris who crossed his arms.

"Leaving without goodbye?"

Zach scowled, "Since when did I owe you anything?"

Chris tried to hide a smile as Danielle pursed her lips with wide blue eyes and scooted back, sensing bad vibes coming off the two, "Uh, about the time you decided to crash our wedding."

"I was invited, remember?"

"Without our knowledge. So, where's the hidden agenda? The secret plan? The kidnapping and general all around criminality?"

Zach growled lowly, "I'm gathering Intel. Learned a lot about you and your little 'family' you've got going here. Really going to help with my next plan. It'll be fool proof, I promise you that."

Chris laughed, because the lame attempt at an excuse proved that Zach had come for an entirely different reason. What it was, he didn't know, but it didn't matter at the moment. Despite everything that had happened, despite everything Zach had done, one thing Kate had helped him learn was forgiveness; and now, watching Zach and his new girlfriend, he felt there was a possibility, a very slim, slim, possibility he could _learn _to forgive Zach.

He held out his hand in a farewell handshake, and after a moment of hesitation, Zach accepted...and then scowled and threatened him and everyone else for a good three minutes before marching out and leaving.

Martin and Koki signed their parts in the marriage license as the witnesses; once that was done, Martin tapped Koki on the shoulder to get her attention (mostly because he knew how much that annoyed her) and got down on one knee.

Ayla screamed for joy and kissed someone (on the cheek) and Koki said yes. Martin immediately swung around and presented Ayla with a necklace, asking if she'd accept him as her legal father, only to get caught into a tight hug and cried on as she nodded against his chest.

Koki, sporting her new ring, helped Aviva shake the rice out of her dress before packing them into the Dragonflier III (don't ask) and letting them fly off to their honeymoon together as Kate broke into tears in Martin's arms and the new couple flew off into the sunset.


	3. Luna de Miel

**Hello! Sorry for taking a while to update, the internet and LIFE has been crazy -.-' But, here it is! ^^ The honeymoon...I'm not sure if this would count as M-rated or what, it's nothing explicit or anything...In any case,just so that you know the timing of these, the second part is only a few weeks after the honeymoon. ^^ On with the story!**

* * *

Deep within the Pacific ocean, sat a tiny island, born of a volcano which left a ring of sunken brothers for the island, each one forming a tiny coral colony, not yet a reef. Above the crashing, fizzing sounds of the ocean rolling up and down the island's beach, there was a faint sound of buzzing. A few birds raised their heads, wondering if the solitary colony of bees was moving into a new rock crevice again, and then tucked their heads under their wings, dozing off as the sun slowly spilled gold onto the deep azure ocean. A snake slithered in the trees, sluggishly searching for it's prey, even though his meal last week could still hold him over for a few more days. An owl cried out it's mournful sound, shaking itself slowly awake, awaiting for the sun to go down, and below, mice scurried back and forth in the shadows, bringing food to their burrows. Palm trees, curved like a crescent moon, swayed in the cool evening breeze as the sun began it's slow, swollen retreat down the last yards to meet the ocean and be swallowed up by the blue.

The buzzing sound grew stronger, and louder, causing a few birds to stir restlessly as they turned to the skies, watching for any airplanes or helicopters...every now and then, they even spotted something that looked like a gigantic sea turtle flying up there among them.

Instead of such large things, what they saw looked vaguely like the dragonflies that flitted around the mud puddles on the tiny island, and while still very large by their terms, was dwarfed in comparison to the airplanes or the flying turtle.

Anxiously, they watched the two occupants unload, the same creatures that inhabited the mainland...and relaxed at the familiar green shirt and unique scent of the first figure. His regular visits had put them at ease with his presence, since he had never posed a threat or tried to harm any of them. The slighter figure beside him smelled faintly like him, so they ignored her as well as she giggled and pranced around him.

"How did you know I've always dreamed of a honeymoon on a deserted island?"

"Because I love you," he teased, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind as she chuckled.

"You asked my mom, didn't you?"

"Actually, Koki asked your mom and then told me, but yeah."

The Hispanic woman giggled, elated and happy, before twisting around in his hold and giving him a gentle peck on the lips, "So, where's the bed?"

Chris chuckled, gesturing towards the Dragonflier with his head, "We can pull it out later."

Aviva grinned, her olive eyes sparkling with mischief as she pulled away, "Yeah, you're right, later."

The creature adventurer – _her _creature adventurer – watched with curiosity, "Where are you going?"

"The beach, duh," she turned around, unzipping the back of her light green and yellow dress, causing his eyes to go wide for a moment before he grinned sheepishly.

"Do you want me to get the bathing suits?"

"No," the dress slid off, revealing her bare back and her long legs in all their olive tanned, smooth glory, and Chris gulped when she reached back, unclasping her bra and tossing him a sultry smile over her shoulder, "You coming?"

"I...uh...I," he stuttered eloquently, as she slipped out of the last bit of cloth and turned to face him, relishing his sudden inability to _think _as he stared at her, jaw slack and eyes wide. She walked past him, brushing her lips against his clean shaven chin, her hand trailing across his torso and dipping low briefly before she was gone and he followed her as she made her way to the beach, beckoning him like a siren or a mermaid from those old sailors' tales, her hair loose and cascading down her shoulders like waves of rich, healthy brown. He walked up to her, and crossed his arms, mock-glaring at her playfully.

"What was all that about?"

She just giggled, walking backwards into the water, the almost pristine blue enveloping her legs, rushing, pulling, thrumming like an ancient drum in tandem with their beating hearts. Chris relented, shedding his clothes as well and tossing them away from the grabbing waves, and followed her out into the water, grateful unlike the sailors who followed the fleeting illusions into the ocean and met their doom, he was following the woman his life would be crafted around from now on.

She was waiting for him, waist deep in water, and he was both relieved that she was mostly covered, her hair cascading over her chest, and a bit annoyed. Aviva held out her hand, and he took it, pulling her closer to him, the salt water rushing and thrumming around them, and when they finally touched it was too much and not enough, a slow burn beginning to crawl through their veins as they swam and kissed and moved in tandem with the waves, rushing, building, crashing, skin to skin as their hearts and their bodies moved and throbbed with the ocean, intertwined and joined in inexplicably intimate and complex ways. It was primal and instinctual, and yet it was art and beauty, and when the sun turned the water to gold and silhouetted them in bronze and light, gold glinting off their brown hair and sparkling on their wet eyelashes, their voices joined the sounds of the forest behind them, and for those few precious moments, there was no one in the world except for them, no one but them on a deserted island and the moon in the sky, painting the world in silky, silvery hues.

* * *

"Hey, Aviva, we found a few new smells for your Smell-o-rama thing!" Martin appeared on the Tortuga screen, grinning as he pointed to an okapi, "Okapi musk, jaguar musk-"

Aviva gagged, turning away, "Ugh, please, no. No more smells for the smell encyclopedia. I've had enough for a lifetime. I think I made myself sick with that Savannah Grass solution that last adventure, guys."

Chris' worried face appeared on the screen, "Are you okay, Aviva?"

"She hasn't been feeling well today," Jimmy supplied helpfully from his gaming console, turned away from the happenings of the day. The girls were busy at school in the US, and it was mostly just the original team working away at studying okapis and their habitats. Aviva turned back to the screen, sighing.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, it's probably just some bug or something," she tapped on her console, her rings creating an interesting clank-clank sound on the surface. Four months had passed since the wedding, and while it had been a...very busy honeymoon, once they got back home, it was as if they settled into their pre-wedding habits and positions, except for the fact that Chris and Aviva now shared a room.

A room that Aviva wanted to get back to, for some reason. She yawned, "Listen, guys, if you seriously want an okapi power disk, you need to get me some serious wow-facts. Like now. Tortuga out."

Martin pursed his lips and turned to his brother with a disgruntled look on his face, "She needs you."

"What?"

"Aviva. Your wife. Your LOV-"

"I get it, shut up! What I mean is, what do you mean, she needs me?" Chris glared at his brother.

"She has that look she gets on her face when she's upset that I'm taking you away from her!"

"...Wait, what?"

Martin groaned, and shoved his brother in the direction of the Tortuga, "Look, better now than later when she blows up in your face over whatever it is that's bothering her. Go. We'll finish this later..."

Martin didn't look exactly happy about quitting their creature adventure just as they started it, but Martin wouldn't say for him to do it without meaning it, so with a sigh, Chris squared his shoulders and marched off to the Tortuga with Martin at his heels.

The moment they arrived, Martin burst in with a shout, "KOKI, JIMMY, I need you two ASAP in the forest!"

All three team members jumped, and Jimmy yelped, ducking behind his chair, "What is it?!"

"Is it an injured creature? Do I get the med-kit?" Koki jumped to her feet, and Martin nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, yeah, bring it, come, hurry!" He turned on his heel with Koki right behind as Jimmy followed with a suspicious look on his face.

Aviva watched the procession leave, then turned to Chris, who was left behind with an astonished look on his face, "Okay, what on earth was all that about?"

"Uh..._that_ wasn't my idea. But uh..." he sat down in front of her, hands in his pockets, "I sort of wanted to know if you were okay."

Aviva narrowed her eyes, "I'm fine."

"You haven't been. C'mon, Aviva. What's wrong?" He reached out, pulling Aviva's hand into his, his thumb toying with her wedding band.

Her shoulders slumped, and she opened her mouth to try and answer, but cut herself off, sighing and scooting her chair closer, "It's dumb."

"You're my wife, Aviva. Nothing you say -...or feel, is dumb."

"Okay, okay...But it's still dumb," she bit her lip, standing up and pacing a little before stopping in front of him with a determined look on her face, "I_ want _you."

It took him a moment to realize what she meant, and he flushed a deep red before croaking out, "What?"

"I told you it was dumb!" she threw her arms up in the air, pacing again, before stopping in front of him again, "It's just...I don't know, it's not like we haven't been _together_..all the time, but I want you _all_ the time. It's crazy, and it hits me at the oddest of times, kind of like that weird bug I've been getting, but different. Like right now, that look on your face just makes me want to explode and do stuff to you, but I can't and-"

"Well," Chris gave her a sly smile, glancing towards their room, hardly a hallway's walk away, "You kind of can."

She blinked at him owlishly, glancing out to where the rest of the team had vanished, then at the girls' rooms, which were empty because the girls were at school. Aviva suddenly smirked, turning back to him.

"You're right," she whispered, pulling him to his feet with a wicked grin, "I can."

They didn't even make it down the hallway.

* * *

**SO...there XD If you guys wanna see the Marki wedding, LET ME KNOW and I shall write it! ^^ BUt let me know, and give me any ideas you have okay? ^^ TTFN!**


	4. Home ?

**Hiya people! XD So, wow, was not expecting everyone to be so excited for the Marki wedding! XD I'm going to set up a poll on my page so you guys can vote on where Martin and Koki have their honeymoon, but hurry hurry hurry! I need to get the poll in within a couple of days so that I can write it up before I lose inspiration for it! XD**

**So, once again, I don't own Wild Kratts, Tortuga or Kate Corcovado. But I do own this story, Two Little Butterflies, Ayla Banebridge, and Alaska...Okay, fine, I don't own Alaska. But I do own Dreamworks, so Hiccup and Toothless from HTTYD ARE ALL MINE. *abducts the characters and runs off* I also own cartoon Martin and Chris so I'M TAKING THEM TOO. *tosses characters into car and drives like a maniac...without a license***

**On with the Story! ^^**

* * *

Kate marched up to Ayla with a strange look on her face, "Ayla, don't let your parents get married."

The African-American girl blinked, hiding her advanced science book under her other textbooks, "Why not?"

"Cause they start to act super weird around you and act like they've got secrets they don't want to tell you."

Ayla giggled, "They always act like that, silly, married or not."

"Still, the secret seems even more bigger now," Kate sat down on Ayla's bed and Ayla smirked.

"I have an idea."

"Ayla!"

"Hear me out!"

"You wanna spy on them. No," Kate resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at her sister/cousin. The African-American girl crossed her arms and pouted.

"C'mon, it's a good idea! You'll get to know why they're acting weird."

"No."

"_Kaaaaaatttttttttteeeeee."_

"No!"

"Okay, fine," Ayla harrumphed and crossed her arms, before brightening up and grinning, "Guess who carries Mommy and Daddy's rings to the altar."

"No way! I was only the flower girl!"

"I'm too tall to be a flower girl, Mom says. But that's okay, I get to wear a pretty dress and walk up to them all by myself," Ayla giggled, pushing her books aside, "But it's weird that Mommy and Daddy suddenly changed the date of the wedding."

"They did?"

"It's lots sooner now. Like next two months soon."

"Why did they do that?"

"I don't know. It's more and more secrets. I told you it's not just when they're married."

"Maybe it's the same secret?" Kate rubbed her head.

"What kind of secret would all four of our parents have that would make them make the wedding sooner and act all weird like they are?" both girls stared at each other for a moment before shrugging.

"Hhmmmmmphh..."

"Kate, sweetheart, we need you to get up."

"Moooooom, it's a Saturday," Kate moaned, and Aviva smiled at her little seven year old. Chris laughed, grabbing the covers and ripping them off.

"Dad!"

"Kate, come, we've got a surprise for you," Aviva pulled her sleepy eyed daughter out of bed and onto her feet as the little girl yawned.

"What is it?" she mumbled as she took two unstable steps forward, only to be swept up into a pair of strong arms. She smiled, and curled up to Chris' body heat, closing her eyes again as she was carried out.

Chris grunted, Kate's long legs swinging back and forth as he carried her out of the Tortuga, "You're getting too big for this."

Kate shuddered as she was carried out into the chilly morning air, opening one eye to find herself on a gravel driveway surrounded by pine trees, "Where are we?"

Her parents smiled and carried her on, stopping after about thirty seconds of walking. By now, Kate was wide awake and she was twisting herself around, blinking, "Mommy? Daddy?"

"Look Kate," Aviva pointed through the rising morning mist to a house in a clearing in the woods, "That's our new home."

Kate stared at it. It was previously a little cabin, and as time had crawled on, the owners had added on more and more until it was a warm, comfortable two-story log cabin, warm and safe for cold winters. She stared at it, not understanding.

"But...Tortuga is home," she complained, glancing down the driveway to the green-blue ship behind them.

"Yes, well, we decided we needed more space for our family," Chris explained, a twinkle in his eyes as he turned to Aviva, "The Tortuga isn't going to be for living anymore, just for missions."

Kate blinked, before turning to Aviva, "Does this mean I get my own room? I don't have to share with Ayla anymore?"

Aviva grinned, "Yup."

"But...Where's Ayla going to live? And Oji and Auntie Koki and Jimmy Z?"

Chris turned around, pointing down the driveway to wide, country road, "Uncle JZ is going to have the whole Tortuga to himself. He's kinda happy about that. Oji, Auntie Koki and Ayla will live down the road, and you can go visit them on your bike. And you'll have an entire backyard for yourself and your little brother or sister."

"I don't have a brother or sister," Kate scratched her head, looking at her parents, "Just Ayla..."

It slowly dawned on the little girl, and her eyes widened, "Wait...Am I going to have a little brother or sister?"

"Yes!" Aviva laughed, hugging her daughter and her husband, kissing Kate's cheek, "But you'll have to understand, baby is going to need mommy a whole lot when he or she comes. You can't be jealous. I know Daddy and I have always been there for you, and we always will, but it's going to change with your brother or sister. We'll be there for you every step of the way, but you have to be here for us too, okay?"

Kate's green eyes widened as she nodded, a smile on her face, "I'm going to be a big sister!"

* * *

"Ayla, wake up, we've got a surprise for you," Martin shook the soundly sleeping girl, pouting in frustration. Koki laughed, and pushed him aside.

"Lemme show you how it's done," she admonished, brushing Ayla's loose brown curls away from her face and placed a kiss on her daughter's cheek, "Sweetheart. You know what I'm gonna ask you."

To Martin's surprise, Ayla moaned, and furrowed her face, "My eyes are all heavy, I don't wanna wake up. It's warm here."

"C'mon Ayla, or else we won't show you the surprise!"

"What surprise?" the six year old mumbled, curling deeper into the covers. Martin narrowed his eyes, then swiftly grabbed the covers, yanking them off...only to find the girl cocooned into another blanket. The girl smirked, her eyes still closed.

Koki laughed, and Martin harrumphed, scooping Ayla up, blankets and all and tossing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, which caused her to squeal and thrash around.

"Al-_right,_ alright, I'm awake, put me down!" she kicked and blindly threw punches that missed everything but the air around her as Martin put her back down, right side up. She pouted, rubbing her eyes.

"Ayla, we've got a special surprise we want you to see."

"Is it that weird secret you've all been walking around keeping from us?" she accused, crossing her arms, her expression distinctly like Koki's interrogation face, and Martin felt himself scoot back away from the girl the tiniest bit.

"Sort of...but not really. This is different. We'll explain later," Koki pulled one of Ayla's hands into her own, getting the girl into her shoes and then followed Martin as he lead them out of the Tortuga, at one point snaking his arm around Koki's waist as they walked out onto the wide country road. Ayla frowned.

"We've never been exactly here before. I'd recognize it," she tugged on Martin's shirt and he lifted her up onto his shoulders.

"You baby her too much."

"_Someone_ has to."

That earned Martin a rather solid punch on the shoulder, which he laughed and whined about it at the same time. Ayla paid them no heed, her usual jovial expression replaced by one of extreme concentration. She didn't want to get lost in these woods, and she was grounding herself to the road below them. After a moment, she relaxed, hugging Martin's head and yawning again, the sun making it's morning debut through the trees.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

After a moment, they turned onto a gravel driveway, and Ayla smiled, noticing the morning birds flitting around in the trees, listening to their songs, "I like this place."

Her parents shared a secret smile as the little wooden house came into view. Ayla oohed, and clapped her hands, "Mommy, it's pretty! Look, it's made of rocks at the bottom and it's white and it's got flowers! Can we meet the person who lives here? Is they – I mean, _are _they nice?"

"Well, Ayla, from now on...We live here," Martin patted her leg and took her off his shoulders, placing her on the ground as she twisted around and gave them a completely confounded look.

"I thought we lived in Tortuga HQ," she crossed her arms, frowning. Koki grinned, kneeling down.

"We did. But, well, the Tortuga is going to be getting a little small for us now, and your Aunt and Uncle and we thought it would be a good idea to have a home to come to every night."

"Everyone is going to live here?"

"No...Just us, after your dad and I get married."

"What about Uncle Jimmy and Kate and Uncle Chris and Titi Aviva?"

Koki pointed behind them, "Kate and her family live right up the road. As for your Uncle JZ, he gets the Tortuga all to himself."

Ayla turned around, taking in the small, quaint little house. It looked like a house from one of her books, a dream house with a porch and bay windows, and now that she looked further, a little pond deeper into the woods, with a path leading right to it. Her eyes lit up, knowing all the fun she and her dad would have there.

"What about creature adventuring? What about Tortuga? What about Wild Kratts Kids Club? What about school?" Ayla clapped her hands together, bouncing from one foot to the other in excitement. Martin laughed.

"School starts this fall, in town, the Wild Kratts Kids Club can be run over the internet and we'll still go on creature adventures and use the Tortuga. Just...not as often."

"Why not?"

"Because Aviva won't really be able to travel around so much after the baby is born."

Ayla's eyes widened, "What? A baby?!"

She squealed, jumping up and down excitedly, "A baby _a baby_ a baby!"

Koki glanced at Martin, who grinned, "Well, she took the news well."

"Daddy I'm going to have another sister! Or cousin. Cousin, right? 'Cause you and Uncle Chris are brothers, right? Yes you are, and I-... I need to see Kate! Can I see Kate?"

"Whoa, whoa, hold your horses, kiddo," Martin grabbed the girl as she tried to take off towards the direction she thought her friend was, "How about we take a look at our new home first?"

Ayla blinked, then sighed, nodding, "Okay. But I wanna chose my room!"

Both parents laughed as they followed the bouncing girl into the house.

* * *

The houses they had settled into were settled deep into a rather remote area, hopefully to ward off any attempts by the villains to try and attack them, far from anywhere else any of them had lived before. The houses were nestled in corner of a tail end of a small valley, which widened to encompass the little town in what the residents affectionately referred to as the 'Fairview Cradle'. The summers were almost unbearably hot, and perfect for hours and hours of play and wandering outside, and the winters were ragingly cold and stormy, perfect for snowy Christmases around warm fireplaces.

In choosing their place to settle down, they first listed the countries they were willing to live in; any democratic place in Africa that wasn't being torn apart by internal wars or ruled over by Islamic people (while they had met several amazing Muslim people, for the most part, African Muslims saw them as threats...mostly because they flew around in a ship the shape of something that Allah had made, and that was wrong) South Korea, Russia (Martin and Chris' eyes lit up at living in such a big country with such diverse habitats and animals) definitely not China, since they were already overpopulated and the one child law would cause some serious problems since both little families already had one, Australia, New Zealand, anywhere but Mexico in America, and on and on. They eventually cut down on the more exotic places, since they did want the kids to be able to get to know their extended family.

Jimmy's complaint that he didn't want to stay in any one spot where they'd be celebrating Christmas in rain and green leaves cut South America off the list, much to Aviva's disappointment, since she had been eying a tiny little country called Belize where people spoke both English and Spanish and there were enough wild animals that would keep her husband and brother-in-law entertained for months, and New Jersey and New York were out of the question if they wanted to keep Kate safe. Pretty soon, most of the U.S was cut off the list because of Zach's sprawling, national enterprise – the towering buildings practically inhaled and exhaled Zach-bots day and night - and they almost gave up the search until they stopped at the school they had the girls enrolled in. The principal (who, despite having to scold Ayla half to death, actually loved the sprightly little girl, who would sit and talk to him, unafraid of him, and yet without giving him the glares and disrespectful attitudes of the school bullies) called Martin and Koki again, and tried to insist that they needed to settle down.

"It would give the girls a sense of stability," Principal Mootfowl deliberated, a tall man with a narrow face, who looked as if he extended his arms and legs, which almost always remained close to his body, he might reach across the entire room, "Why, I heard that the Collins, up by Old Woman Sweets at the end of the valley, were selling their land. They have almost thirty acres of land and a house or two on it, I think. Maybe you should check it out, try and see if it would work for you."

Koki and Martin gave each other a strange breathless look that Ayla frowned at, unable to decipher or understand it. The thought fled her quickly moving little mind a moment after, when Martin swooped her up into his arms, and carried her off as Koki gleaned more information from a surprised Principal Mootfowl.

The moment the four parents saw the houses, the sprawling land, the pond and the frogs, the birds and the trees, stepped through the nearly knee-length, lush green grass...They knew that it was what they had been looking for. And ironically, it was perfect for the same reasons they had picked the school for Kate and Ayla: it was isolated, relatively safe, far from anywhere Zach might look or anyone else for that matter...and not found on any map. Fairview, Ontario, Canada, didn't exist according to the maps, and that was just perfect for people trying to disappear.

The town itself was small, homey; everyone there had been there for ages, and only the young kids, raring for college and cities and something not small-town, ever left. It had two grocery stores, both owned by a Mr. McAllister who slept in a tiny little shack in the back of one of them, despite having more than enough money to buy most the houses in the town. The grocery stores were mostly supplied by the gardens of old friends, or the small farms that outlined the town, providing meat, strawberries, lettuce, cabbage, herbs, dried herbs, milk, eggs, tomatoes, potatoes, and just about anything one might need for a healthy, robust diet. Delivery trucks wandered in once a month or so, bringing blankets, cloth, soaps, anything that the people couldn't manufacture themselves, such as canning lids, glass jars, power tools, generators for the long winters, school books, telephones (the kinds that still attached to walls and cables), TVs, sometimes a box of DVDs for the tiny little movie rental shack run out of Mr. Richards' backyard just outside of town. Only roughly five people in the town had a cellphone, and they used them only once in a blue moon to call their grand kids so far away in some city that their children had migrated to. Other wise, they were tucked away in the house, plugged in constantly, gathering dust as life moved on.

It was perfect. Ayla loved being able to stay and have the extensive library that sat widely next to the town hall, across from the church at her disposal all week around, endless trees to climb, a cottage just like the ones she drew after reading _Anne's House of Dreams _(the last book in a series about Anne of Green Gables, a red-headed girl with an imagination the size of the moon) a pond in which to swim, seemingly unlimited space to roam (thirty acres might have well been half the world to a child that age) _and _Kate lived within a ten minute walk from her.

Kate loved it as well, and Chris was eager to be able to take her out on mini-adventures, ones without the peril that had become standard in their lives, and he could hardly wait to shower on her all the joys he remembered from growing up, the Christmases, the pets, waking up in a place to call their own that didn't skyrocket into the atmosphere every day; the tiny town even had a little zoo, as astonishing as that was. And most importantly...

No _Zach._

It was perfect, and it felt like home, despite the fact that they had hardly been there a week and were still cleaning out dust and chasing bats out of attics (and setting up bat boxes in more convenient places for the now homeless critters), setting traps for both mice and rats and contemplating the possibility of getting a cat to help cut down on the rodent population. Supposedly, their new neighbor, Old Woman Sweets, whom they had neither seen nor heard of before Principal Mootfowl mentioned her, had a plethora of cats, whom she'd supposedly spay and neuter herself if she felt the population was growing too large.

Her house was deep within the woods, an old log cabin that Ayla had her heart set on finding; Koki quickly cut off that possibility, telling her that under no circumstances was Ayla to go trespassing, much to the girl's disappointment...and Kate's relief. The older girl didn't exactly feel like tromping around the woods, looking for an old lady. It was because of a story Zach had told her when she was young, about an old lady he met that raised a mountain lion, which then acquired a taste for human meat, though if anyone asked her, she wouldn't be able to remember the story very well. He had seen the creature maul a boy his age (he didn't actually eat, or even attempt to eat the boy, though) and it had terrified and scarred Zach for life; Kate had a deep, almost instinctual fear of old ladies in houses deep in the woods that one might even say was hereditary.

But of course, no one but Kate knew of that fear, and now that they were forbidden to go investigating, she had little to fear; Old Woman Sweets never left her cabin, according to the girls at school, and with Daddy, Mommy, Uncle JZ, Auntie Koki and Uncle Martin around the only thing that could hurt her was V-Dad, and even that seemed far away and long ago. Right here and now was giving her a baby brother or sister (she sincerely hoped sister) and it felt safe and real.

For the second time in her short little life, she felt like she had found home.

* * *

**Haha, Koki knows how to wake her girl up, lol. Moms. XD My dad has to physically DRAG me out of bed to get me up, but if mom comes around, taps me and says, 'It's EIGHT, you lazy thing GET UP already.' I'll fly out of bed like it's become a lava field.**

**In any case, drop me a review, tell me how you liked the story (and yes, I did take them out of Tortuga temporarily, but they'll be back to creature adventuring before they know it XD) and make sure you drop by the poll to tell me what you think! ^^ :) TTFN!**

**Edit: I added links to pictures of what I'm visualizing right next to the poll options, check them out by copying them into your browser. ^^ Have fun!**


	5. Guitar by the Sea

**Well, hello people I did not see you there. XD Here's the Marki wedding! I was a little bit worried it might be too soon after the Caviva wedding, but whatever. I liked this idea. XD**

**Once again, I own...something. But not Wild Kratts. Or Disney. Or Dreamworks. I am also not even a tiny bit rich. And I'm Puerto Rican. So I just might rob you. ;)**

**I'll stop blathering now, so ON WITH DA STORY.**

* * *

Her heart was pounding against her chest.

"I think I'm scared, Aviva."

The matron of honor glanced at her face, surprise painted over her expression as she worked Koki's curly hair into a loose braid framing the right side of her face. The rest of her hair was loose, curly and coated with all natural gel made from flax-seed and still moist from her shower just hours ago. An orange sea star was pinned to the left side of her face, opposite of her braid, pulling her hair away from her face.

"Of what?"

"Of everything. What if this is a mistake? What if Martin isn't happy with us?" Koki glanced at her daughter, sleeping off a mild fever in her mom's hammock.

"What are you talking about?" Aviva chuckled, "Martin is crazy about you two. How could he not be happy with you?"

"I don't know..." Koki admitted, "Just nervous about everything, I guess."

"Hey, come here," Aviva laughed, holding Koki's shoulders, "Take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy the start of your new life together. You two have worked hard and thought everything through to get where you are today, and now it's time for you to let go of the reigns and let everything fall into place. Chris and I will take care of any crisis that occurs, and all you have to do is look gorgeous, walk down that aisle, say your vows and kiss that good-looking idiot at the end of the aisle."

Koki snickered, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at her friend, "They are kind of idiots."

"Yup. Just don't kiss MY idiot, 'kay?"

* * *

"Chris!"

"Honestly bro, if you freak out again, I will punch you. I don't care if it's your wedding day and you're supposed to look pretty."

Martin deadpanned at his brother for a few moments, before pouting, "Who said anything about pretty? And that's not it. Our parents didn't come."

"Oh," Chris looked up at his brother's crestfallen face, "I'm sorry bro."

Martin shrugged, "Eh, it's fine, it's just...They couldn't make it, for some reason."

It was no secret that their parents didn't exactly like the thought of Martin marrying a woman with a child (because, apparently, Aviva and Kate were _different _than Koki and Ayla because Kate was adopted) but neither of the brothers had thought that they'd actually not come to the wedding. Chris reached out to his brother, pulling him into a one armed hug for a brief moment, shrugging.

"Christine and Suzanne both made it though. And their kids," Martin sighed, awkwardly straightening the collar of his cream shirt, pulling the pre-prepared blue tie over his head and letting it hang somewhat loose as he pulled the cream colored jacket over his shoulders. Chris was simply in a cream colored button up shirt with a green tie on. The brown haired brother glanced out of the Tortuga at the group of people talking in it's shade, laughing as they cheerily set up chairs to sit on.

"Okay, bro, it's time to head on out there."

* * *

The sun was beginning to dip in the sky, radiating heat and light as it began it's slow descent into the horizon; a breeze blew gently through the area, ruffling skirts and playfully pulling hair out of place and into people's faces as they grinned and talked and set up chairs in the sand.

The ocean rippled and slowly, gently crashed against the beach, like soft, airy sighs of a dreamy eyed young girl, as Martin took his place by the decorated arch pushed into the sand. Posts holding yet unlit hurricane lamps were sunk into the sand, blue gauzy material wrapped and tied around them. Everything was decorated with blue, or at least hints of blue, and with seashells or sand dollars or sea stars.

His feet were bare, and coated with sand, and he nervously fidgeted as everyone took their seat and the priest took his with an extremely droll expression, as if this sort of thing bored him beyond tolerable boredom.

He almost didn't notice when the music started (some cheery song that Koki had chosen) because the nerves were finally beginning to get to him, and when Ayla skipped down the aisle, he grinned, earning himself a quiet giggle from the happy little girl, who was followed by Kate, carrying Martin and Koki's vows (because they didn't want her to feel left out) and then Aviva and Chris, matron of honor and best man, who took their places.

And then, while Martin was distracted making faces at Ayla and Kate, the music shifted, and he glanced up and felt his breath blown away.

Koki's dress was white, and simple, a loop around her neck holding the front up and a sash of gauzy orange wrapped around her middle – her color. It came to mid-calf, and her dark bare-feet were laces with a thin orange ribbon, three white flowers with rich, milky petals gracing her feet and nothing else.

He had always wondered if it was really true that when your bride walks down the aisle, she is the only thing you see.

It was true.

He didn't see the priest with his annoyingly bored face.

He didn't see the absence of his parents in the front row.

He didn't see Ayla making faces at the two of them or Kate giggling

Koki was all he saw, with her tiny smirk at his expression and the way she gently brushed her fingers against his arm to reassure him, and her voice reading her vows to him, tender and heartfelt and full of gentle sass and a bit of snark, and he suddenly felt embarrassed of his incredibly short vows, but her humbled and almost teary eyes when he was done was more than enough to make up for that. The priest opened his mouth, revealing a voice as droll and bored sounding as his face, asked for the rings. Ayla held up her clam shell with a grin, opening it to reveal the wedding rings.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife."

Koki chuckled and reached up, her hand resting on the nape of his neck as he pulled her towards him, resting his forehead on hers for a brief moment before spinning her around and dipping them down for a dramatic kiss.

With a laugh, he straightened her up as she held in laughter of her own and smacked his shoulder for being indecent in front of their daughter and all their family, as everyone laughed and cheered. Martin grabbed Ayla and pulled her up into his arms, gesturing for everyone to sit back down for a moment.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Well, sweetheart, I married your mom today."

"I know! And you kissed her. Gross," the girl crossed her arms with a mock-pout as people around them chuckled.

"Yes I did. And let me tell you a secret. I'm gonna keep kissing her for the rest of our lives together," Martin smirked, blue eyes twinkling mischievously as Koki smacked his shoulder again.

"Ewwww, Daddy!"

"Sorry, sorry. But, you know, I didn't_ just_ marry your mom today."

"No?" the girl frowned in confusion, blue eyes questioning.

"No. Because you see, you and your mom, you come as a package deal. Like, lemme see..."

"French fries and cheeseburgers?"

"Exactly! Or you know, creatures and creature adventuring."

"And creature power suits!"

"So, today I married your mom, right?" Ayla nodded vigorously, "And I made her a promise. That I, to the very best of my abilities, will keep her safe, loved, nurtured and protected. You know what that means right?"

"It means you're mommy's husband," a few people chuckled again.

"That's right. But, do you know what the most important person in the world is to your mommy?"

"...No...?"

"You are. And do you know who the most important person in the world is to me?"

"...Mommy?"

"_You_ are, Ayla. And I want to make a promise to you now too, to love and take care of and protect you, _if _that is, you'll have me as your father."

Ayla's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, "You're adopting me?"

"Yup."

Tears suddenly filled the little girl's eyes and she nodded, hugging Martin tightly, tighter than he thought was possible for a skinny little twerp like her, "Yes! Yes!"

This time, the people jumped to their feet cheering twice as loud as before as Martin twirled the girl around, laughing. Koki reached out, grabbing him and pulling him into a deep, intoxicating kiss as Ayla shrieked and giggled.

"And that, Martin William Kratt, is why I love you."

He laughed, his forehead resting on hers for a moment before he straightened up again, "Now I hope all of you payed attention to your invitations and brought your swim gear!"

The children immediately ran to the cars, stripping of their fancy clothes and into the more comfortable swimming suits or trunks, and a couple of men who still believed they were children took off right after them as their wives or girlfriends face-palmed and groaned.

Chris clapped Martin on the back, with a laugh as Aviva snickered and Kate and Ayla took off to Tortuga to strip for water fun.

"Martin, come here, I want you to met my mom," Koki looped her arm around Martin's, and dragged him off. He had already met her dad, a really _really _tall guy with a deep chuckle and skin almost as dark as ebony; James Banebridge was a warm person, and while not nearly as funny or goofy as Martin, had his own sense of humor about him. Koki dragged Martin towards the tall man, and he glanced around her father to see if he could spot Koki's mother, but the only person next to James was a petite, pale woman with graying red hair.

"Koki!" the woman cried and James' face split into a wide, warm smile, as Koki was drawn into a tight, loving hug, "Ohhhh, I can't believe you're actually married. Let's hope he's doesn't act like too much of an idiot and screw this up."

"Mom!"

Martin blinked, taken back, "Wait..."

The red-head let go of her daughter to turn her gray eyes on Martin, looking him up and down, "At least you clean up nicely."

"Martin, this is my mom, Akiane Banebridge," Koki introduced, as Martin's eyes turned to the size of saucers. Akiane laughed, smirking as she gently backhanded her husband's shoulder.

"Always love that look of surprise when she introduces me."

"Whoa, I...I had no idea that your family- I had no idea you guys were multicultural. Like at all."

Koki chuckled, "You and everyone else I've met."

"Where do you think our girl here got her multicultural tastes?" James chuckled.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Martin turned to Koki.

She shrugged, "Never seemed relevant."

"I'm never relevant?" Akiane raised an amused eyebrow.

"Mamaw, you know that's not what I meant."

"Hmph. Lemme have a look at this white boy you married," Akiane reached towards Martin, grabbing his shoulders and giving him a minor inspection.

"Whoa, Aci, let's let the newlyweds have some peace. You'll have plenty of time to give him a proper lecture later," James chuckled, pulling his wife away from the slightly mortified Martin, holding out his hand for a farewell handshake, squeezing Martin's hand tightly, the levity of the situation suddenly leaving as his dark face suddenly became dead serious, "You...You _take care _of my daughter, you hear me?"

Martin nodded, eyes wide, "I...I will...sir."

Ayla ran up to them, grabbing Akiane's hand, "Mamaw, you need to come! The water is perfect!"

"Martin!"

Martin spun around, only to be caught in a hug by Christine and Suzanne, and all three laughed.

"Big brother finally got hitched!"

"Took you long enough," Suzanne ruffled his hair as he batted her hands away.

"Just waiting for the right time," he stuck his tongue out at his little sisters.

They laughed, as Gavin, Ronan and Aiden ran up to them.

"Martin! Where do you think you'll be creature adventuring next?" Aiden asked, as Suzanne grabbed the boy.

"Whoa there, kiddo. Where's your sunscreen?"

"Aw, mom!" Aiden complained. Suzanne just chuckled and held him tighter as he squirmed.

"And I told you to stop calling your uncles just Chris and Martin. It's UNCLE Martin and UNCLE Chris."

"It's fine, Suzanne, we don't mind."

"Well, I mind," both the fraternal twin sisters snapped, before blinking and looking at each other and then at Martin with sheepish smiles, "Sorry."

Christine grabbed both of her boys before they could take off and leave Aiden stranded, "Come here, let's get your sunscreen on, you twerps."

Gavin sighed, mock pouting as Ronan grinned and eagerly held out his arms and Koki chuckled as Ayla grabbed Aiden (the one of her now cousins that was her and Kate's age, Gavin being a year and a half older and Ronan two years younger) and dragged him off to the water, with Ronan and Gavin in tow, not wanting to be left out of the fun.

The hours slipped by, and as the small group of guests began to dwindle. Chris and Aviva settled themselves in beach chairs, keeping careful eyes on the girls as Martin and Koki danced in the sand. The sun slowly slipped lower and lower, eagerly speeding up as it came closer and closer to the sea, and Martin spun Koki around and around, making her laugh as he dipped her down and then lifted up up into the air, causing her to kick a bit and exclaim in surprise. The sun touched the sea, and the world was suddenly alight with gold as blue and orange mixed and danced across each other. She was gold and light and he was blue and sky and ocean and they danced, lighting the world with beauty.

* * *

**Okay, honestly guys, if you want the honeymoon for this, you're gonna have to head over to the poll on my profile, or else I'll just skip to the next part of my story. Honest Injun. (Is that a racially insulting saying? I don't know I just heard it somewhere like a long time about so please no one be insulteeeedddd! *takes off running and hides*) Also, someone mentioned that we needed to give poor Jimmy a girlfriend or a goldfish, and YES, I DO. Poor baby, all alone. XD I've got this old RP OC tucked away somewhere that maybe I can use for a girlfriend, but that'll probably happen later...In the meantime, let's drag him off to the fair and win him a pet goldfish because that idea is GOLD.**

BWAHAHAHA, that one was good.

No? O-o Okay then, I officially accept that I suck at humor. ^^ Gracefully, hopefully. TTFN!


	6. Mountain Paths

**Hey everyone! Sorry for taking so long with this one, it was a little tough, because I had to dig into Martin and Koki's (mostly Koki's for this one) head's and get into a romantic mindset.**

**Which means there was a lot of personal searching to do. -.- Plus also quizzing my parents about their romantic relationships haha. XD Kind of hard when one of them is ****_so immature he can't talk to you straight without making nonsense comments about my clothes or my food or the way I punch or about the music he used to listen to as a kid or about the sheep _****but I got what I needed eventually. NEVER.**

**DOING.**

**THAT.**

**AGAIN.**

**Any other romantic stuff I do, I'm keeping it coming from just me. *collapses***

**Anyway, thank you SO much everyone that voted on my poll, I'm touched you guys care so much about my story. ^^ I hope this chapter is satisfactory and that you enjoy reading it and maybe, maybe come away with some heart strings pulled. I know that's aiming a little high, but I got emotional writing it so... :P ON WITH THE STORY AND FORGET MY RAMBLINGS PLEASE. ^^**

* * *

"Do you remember the song you tried to teach me to sing to Ayla?"

Koki chuckled, nestled as closely to his side as they could get in the small rental car, "Annie's Song."

His right arm was slung across her shoulders, his hand tracing nonsense patterns across her skin, feeling the heat emanating from her sunburn; from the feel of the heat coming off, it was only a mild one, but he didn't doubt that it was annoying.

"I'm not a guy for songs or singing or anything, but it always makes me think of you," he turned slightly, kissing her head, and she smiled, giving him a gentle, good-natured shove as he turned his gaze back on to the dark country road that kept winding higher and higher into the mountains.

"Keep your eyes on the road, you goofball."

"Now I'm hurt," he pouted playfully, "I say something nice and you call me a goofball."

"No, you're not hurt. And if you were, I'd fix you right up," Koki chuckled, reaching up and returning the kiss by planting one on his cheek.

"But...I'm still a goofball?"

"Yes."

Martin laughed at her straightforward voice, knowing from the twinkle in her brown eyes that she was only teasing, "How can you do that with a straight face?"

She smirked, freckles stretching over her cheeks, "Lots of practice."

They continued talking, not about songs or names, but about each others' families. Her dark hand shifted upwards, planting itself on his heartbeat as she quietly listened to his halting voice telling about the hollow ache in his chest at the absence of his parents at the wedding, and his hand squeezed her shoulder gently as she talked about missing her long dead brother and how he and Martin would have gotten along amazingly.

They talked about Suzanne and Christine, and the kids that were now Koki's nephews as well, and about Ayla; Koki wanted to go back to homeschooling her eventually, but she wasn't sure if she should take Ayla out of school, especially since she was so attached to Kate and Aviva didn't seem the least bit interested in homeschooling Kate. They talked about Chris and Aviva, chuckled as they lovingly made fun of them, knowing they were probably going to have to go through a lot of similar situations themselves.

Houses next to the road became more and more scarce the higher up they went; if there were houses here, they were built much deeper into the property than could be seen from the road. The smell of pine trees mixed with the smell of the beach that both of them still carried laced over their bodies and their clothes, creating an interesting combination in the air around them.

The car slowed to a stop at what seemed like a dead end, the mountain road giving way to a steep incline, covered in pines and the sounds of night creatures as the moon sleepily decided to make an appearance. Martin reluctantly untangled himself from Koki's arms and stepped out of the too small car, grabbing a backpack from the back seat and swinging it onto his shoulder like so many times before, adding Koki's bag to his load as she climbed out of the car, glancing around a bit until she found the steep path in the mountain side beside them that lead up to their destination, makeshift steps made out of logs to resemble lopsided stairs.

He held out his arm, and she nestled into his side for a brief moment, her shoulder fitting perfectly under his arm, before breaking apart to make the climb.

Each step was about three feet apart, and the ground between was slanted upwards, having slowly been eroding away over the years, and they lead up through the pine trees that quietly whispered with the wind that passed through them, eaten through by a small stream that bubbled and cooed with tiny frogs that sang proudly. The path continued on to a slightly slanted meadow, Koki's eyes brightening when they landed on the tiny little cabin made of heavy logs and beautifully crafted in its simplicity near the edge of the meadow, shadowed by a few, small pine trees that couldn't have been growing for more than five years, and a shrub that revealed itself to be hazelnut on closer inspection.

Glancing behind them, she smiled, the path suddenly making her think of the way their lives had unfolded. It hadn't always been easy, and nothing about either of them was truly pristine or untouched, but it was natural, and they meshed like the logs into the ground, like the stream across the path, creating something beautiful out of what they were given.

She turned back to the cabin, some secretly hidden childhood fantasy being remembered as the caution that usually lined her smile left, her brown eyes taking in the weathered, yet strong structure that secretly promised many years of shelter and safety in the grain of the wood and the sturdiness of the logs making it up. The small porch, probably only ten feet by four feet, had a rocking chair that was wooden, hand carved by whoever had lived in the place before, and seemed almost two big for one person, too big for the porch, as if a child had taken it from a larger doll house and tried to make it work for the tiny little cabin.

Martin grinned at seeing the sudden rapture in her expression, squeezing her hand as she wrapped her free arm around his torso and chuckled as he dropped the bags on the tiny porch and swept her off her feet, carrying her in as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, getting more than rewarded when he froze mid-step, pupils blown wide as he pulled away.

He stuttered a bit before he was able to form any coherent sentence, "I-you...ju...Whoa! Where'd you learn _that_?"

She shrugged, a pleased smirk on her face as ran her fingers through his head, "Do you really care to know?"

His mind reeled, a tiny knot of jealousy forming in his stomach before he waved it away as he snorted at her, falling onto the bed with her still in his arms, pouting, "_No_. Not really."

Koki responded by smirking and wriggling out of his arms to peel off the clothes that she wore that still smelled like sand and salt and the beach, a jarring difference to the smell of pine and grass and earth in the cabin. Martin followed suit, almost blushing as he looked away from her and pulled off the shirt he wore, tossing it in the same pile that her beach clothing had gone, and sheepishly turned to his wife, who had stood up to peel off her shorts and was now regarding him with a warm smile.

He held out his arms, and she collapsed into them, into his warmth and understanding and humility and confidence and energy, that had drawn her in and entranced her, given her sanctuary when she had thought she was alone. Their lips met, and she did that _thing _again and after he got ability to think back, he decided that he _liked _it too much to ruin it by finding out how she learned it.

He tugged them both to the bed, amused by her groan of complaint as they readjusted to the new position, both trembling in anticipation, fueled by their abstinence as fire grew in their blood, kisses placed over sunburned skin and hands were suddenly given free range to roam for the first time.

In the end, neither of them really cared where the other learned anything.

* * *

Predawn light gently peeked through her eyelids as she sighed, shifting in bed, pleasantly sore and tired as birdsong flitted around, filling the chilled morning air, the pine forest around the cabin whispering soothingly. Opening her eyes, Koki found herself facing a window, watching the grass outside sway in the morning breeze, the green pale in the gray light.

The world slowly brought itself to her awareness, and her eyes widened for a moment, her body tensing just the slightest bit as she became aware of what had woken her up. Martin's comparatively pale hand was splayed across the dark expanse of her bare stomach, brushing gently, but firmly over a scar a few inches below her belly button, his head propped up by his other arm as he hummed quietly, eyes distant. She wondered how he knew that gentle, feathery touches sent jittery, tingling sensations through the tender skin, before she remembered that he had scars of his own, some earned through hard, dangerous creature adventuring and others bestowed upon him by some outside party.

Her heart picked up speed in an unpleasant way, and despite wanting nothing more than to keep his hands where they were, instinct and deeply buried fear overruled her and she reached down, grabbing his hand and pulling it away from the scar. He jerked, not having realized she was awake until just that moment, and then grinned sheepishly at her, calming her fluttering heartbeat.

"Sorry. Did I wake you up?"

With a sigh, Koki shook her head, smiling as his hand moved upwards to pull her into a gentle kiss, which she pulled away from before it could pick up fire.

"Can I ask?"

She stared up at him owlishly, "What?"

Martin's hand moved back down, hovering just inches above the scar, "Can I ask about it, or is it one of those thing I have to work and work and work at for a couple of weeks?"

"_What? _I do not make you work at anything that long."

"Pfft, fine. Week and a half. _If_ I use my ruggedly handsome charm," he smirked, giving her a look that might have been better suited on someone like Brad Pitt than him as she snorted and shoved him gently.

"You're not getting anything if you let my compliments go to your head," she teased, before her smile fell, "It was an appendectomy."

Martin frowned, glancing down at the scar, placed almost directly in the middle of her abdomen, horizontal and very low, "Strange place for an appendectomy."

Koki simply nodded quietly, eyes distant, "I know...I found out about Ayla a month and a half after it; for a while...a long while, I was afraid that something might have happened during the surgery, that something might have hurt her. I...I was terrified that I had gotten her hurt."

Her voice squeezed around the sounds despite her best efforts, and Martin buried her in his arms, wrapping himself around her as if he could protect her and shield her from these things, despite them both knowing full well the truth.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all that alone," he whispered into her hair and she chuckled despite the tears brought up by the deeply buried fear, wiping at them as if to deny their existence for a brief moment before relaxing into Martin's embrace, letting them flow.

"I wasn't alone. You were there. Aviva and Chris and Jimmy were all there, but especially you. You were always there," she whispered back, her eyes lifting to the wooden ceiling for a moment.

"I'm still sorry. I wasn't there the way you needed me."

"I got through fine," she waved away his worries. He wiped away a tear on her face, no hint of judgment or pity in his blue eyes.

"You got through _fine_. But I wish you could have gotten through _great_. You deserve that," they both knew that he wasn't saying that she didn't do _well_; he was saying he wished she could have _excelled_ without the fears and doubts that had barraged her then.

For some reason that just made the tears flow even more, and she stared up at him, vulnerability written in her expression as she pushed him, and he laughed, kissing her again. This time she was more than ready for the fire they picked up.

* * *

**So...I feel I owe you guys an explanation about why this option wasn't on the poll...**

**I didn't think of it. A very, very thoughtful new friend supplied me with this option and I was like 'OMIGOSH, the little cabin in the mountains in the woods is PERFECT' and I ran and put it on the poll immediately.**

**Or so I thought. I don't know ****_how_****but the option never got onto the poll, and after taking a careful look at the results, (Venice seemed to be a favorite at first but then Africa and the Jungle thing caught up) and realizing that they were tied, I figured, 'I'll try my hand at each of them'**

**I started with Venice. I got exactly half a page done before Martin was about ready to explode from pent up energy and the seemingly ****_completely utter _****lack of animals besides some fish and pigeons in the city. **

**Africa was pretty but they had spent so much time there is was like, 'Oh look, boring old home again..'**

**The Jungle tree house was going okay, but their conversation was stale and halting and just...weird. It didn't feel like them.**

**So I went for option Pine Forest.**

**And it just flowed. The characters came to life for me and they wrote the chapter with their actions and that just doesn't happen to me very often, so I went for this one. Plus it just about made tears come to my eyes while writing so there's that too. :P **

**So I want to give emeraldsandopals a really, really super big thanks for helping me by giving me this idea. ^^ **

**Er, so I'm done talking and I'm so sorry I know this is long, but bye now. I'm gonna go crash because it's too late to be up really. XP *collapses into bed***


	7. Settling in

**OMIGOURD, all this time I spent freaking about about not having a chapter done in time and there was actually all this I had written. *pokes face* All this stress for no reason, ugh. ANYWAY, this is totally, completely, absolutely shameless filler right here. Yup. Filler chapter. Nothing importaaaaannnnttttt.**

**Though you might wanna take note of some of the timing...for reasons...I can't divulge anything else,but, OMIGOURD, I swear, I'm working on the next chapter I promise. Bianca Duarte ##numbernumberIcan'tremember## gave me this really cool idea for a chapter, so that's happening.**

**SO GO ENJOY YOUR FILLER CHAPTER, I'LL LEAVE ALL YOU NICE PEOPLE ALONE NOW BYE-BYE**

**On with the story. *zips off***

* * *

"Pregnancy is not what I thought it would be."

Koki raised an eyebrow at her friend, unpacking one of what seemed like a thousand boxes  
as Aviva collapsed heavily into the couch, pouting.

"Oh? What did you expect? Rosy, glowing skin and smiles all around and baby kicking whenever Daddy puts his hand on your belly?" Koki chuckled.

Aviva bit her lip, interlacing her fingers and holding them out in a frustrated gesture, "Yes! I mean, I expected the nausea and the swelling and the soreness, but I'm just so _tired _all the time. And the nausea is so much worse than I thought it would be."

"Well, it's not just _morning _sickness," Koki pulled out one of her pans, transferring it to a cabinet, giving her friend a sympathetic smile.

"Ugh, whoever named it that was lucky. I get it every time I eat. I can't even keep anything down very long!" Aviva sighed, standing up and scrutinizing the house, before changing the subject, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Did you finish unpacking your house?"

"No, not quite. I'm just glad we're leaving all the storage stuff in the Tortuga. Can you imagine unpacking all my old inventions or Chris' old stuff? Does Martin hoard as much as Chris does?"

Koki laughed, nodding, "He hoards a _lot _of stuff. Baseball hats, old clothes from the eighties – can you believe some of the stuff we used to wear? - he even has this big bag full of leaves for some reason. Do not ask me why, he said it had something to do with an old science experiment or something like that. There's also a dummy."

"Oh, yeah, Chris mentioned that. They even named it and used it to experiment with Hippo jaw power once," Aviva shook her head fondly, rolling her eyes, "Honestly, some of the things they do."

"You know, I bet they say the same thing about us," Koki smirked, glancing out the window to catch a glimpse of the brothers standing in front of the piles of boxes that they were supposed to be carrying inside, distracted by something inside of them.

"Honestly, Martin, some of the things they do," Chris shook his head, trying to figure out the labels on the boxes; Aviva had printed out mini-floor plans and had them taped on. The room the box belonged in was highlighted in yellow or green and should have been easy enough to decipher.

"Eh, I think the labels are kinda cool."

"They are, until they let the girls put the labels on and they put them on the bottom and then when you turn the box over to see where the box goes you hear a really loud, kinda disturbing _crack!_" Chris sighed, gingerly opening said box, frowning at the broken glass bowl, "How can they still have glass bowls after living on Tortuga? The way our adventures go, they should have been destroyed ages ago.

"I bet it was a wedding gift," Martin picked up the two halves of the bowls and held them up to the light, fitting them together, "Do you think if we crazy-glue this like crazy it'll stick back together?"

Chris snorted, a grin spreading across his face, "Do you?"

"Not really."

"What are you gonna tell her?"

"The truth. Kate and Ayla are awful box labellers," Martin grinned, putting the glass back in and lifting the box into his arms as a bird flitted across his view, energy lighting in his eyes, "You know, maybe we won't be in Tortuga or anything, but we can have plenty of creature fun here. Look, there's a blue jay!"

"And there goes a gray squirrel! Hey, have we done any creature adventures in the oak forests yet?"

The answering spark in his brother's eyes made a wide grin fly across his face as he jumped to his feet, pile of boxes forgotten, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Oh, I know you're thinking what I think you think I'm thinking you're thinking," Martin grinned excitedly, dropping his box to the floor (which complained with a sound like glass crashing against more glass), "Let's go!"

8 hours later, after helpfully being supplied by an annoyed, but interested Aviva with gray squirrel and blue jay power and getting pried out of a malfunctioning oak tree suit and getting dragged home...

They _still_ had to unpack all those boxes, now under their wives careful supervision. And account for the missing glass bowl that Koki was absolutely certain she had packed into one of these boxes over here...

* * *

Kate marched around the house with Ayla in tow, carrying her boxes of toys to the living room, where Aviva sat, and plopped the boxes down in front of Aviva, who blinked and quirked an eyebrow at the two girls. Ayla grinned, and Kate took a deep, serious breath.

"Mommy, yesterday, you said some of my toys are gonna to be dangerous for the baby, so I wanted to take them out, but I don't know what kinds of toys are bad for babies, so Ayla told me we could ask you about it," the green eyed girl sat down in front of the boxes, with a very serious look on her face as Aviva stared at her.

"Yeah, and then I'm gonna go and see what toys I can trade that are safe so that Kate doesn't run out of toys and get bored and all that," Ayla contributed, with a grin.

Aviva was left speechless. She was five months pregnant, and Kate had been endlessly curious about the baby; How did it grow inside of Mommy, how did it get put in there, what did babies eat, would it be a boy or a girl, can she play with the baby once he or she came? For the most part, the questions had been easy, and she talked to Kate about how things were going to work once the baby came as they set up the nursery with an animal theme, keeping it graciously gender neutral, since the sonograms had been unable to pick up whether or not they were expecting a boy or a girl; the baby had his/her arms and legs crossed tightly over his/her body, concealing him or herself from outside inspection.

But she hadn't expected such a mature and thoughtful reaction to the comment that the baby couldn't play with some of Kate's toys because he could swallow them and choke. Her eyes watered, and she bent down, baby bump and all, pulling Kate into a tender hug.

"Oh, Kate, thank the Creator for you."

* * *

He had shoved her into the pond.

Of all the things Martin could have done to provoke her today, he had to _shove_ her into the _pond_.

After she finally got her naturally water absorbent hair to dry.

After she was finally able to comb it up into her normal afro, after hours and hours and hours of tugging and tugging on her unpredictable curls.

After Ayla got in trouble at school, _again,_ for taking a belt to school and chasing the boys around as if she were Wonder Woman, because they teased Kate or something to that effect.

After they brought her home, and she tried to ground her, and Martin _brushed it off_, sending the girl to his brother's house.

She had cried out when she was thrown into the water, but as she slowly stood up, turning to face the man she had just married last month, she was silent, brows furrowed into a heated glare that immediately made his laughter die out.

"Aw, shoot," he muttered, cringing.

"Martin. William. Kratt," she ground out, pushing her hair out of her face as she stormed through the pond to the little dock he was still standing on, "I suggest you start running."

"Look, look, I'm sorry, okay," Martin reached down to try and pull her out, but instead, she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the water, making him fall in face first with a yelp.

"Warned ya," she muttered as he came back up spluttering and coughing, reaching out and shoving his head back underwater for a split second, only to have him grab her legs and knock her off balance, falling back under the water herself with a yelp. He surfaced and laughed, and she pounced on him, and they wrestled in the water for a good five minutes before she managed to pin him down against the shore with a smug look on her face, "Pinned ya."

Martin smirked, wrapping his arms around her waist and twisting, turning them over so that he was the one pinning her, only to find that she used the momentum to turn them over again and pinned him under her once more.

"Hah!"

"Gah! Fine, you win. I'm sorry for throwing you in the water, okay?" he laughed, hair wet and mussed up, the sun catching golden glints on the dirty blond head. Koki grinned as well, completely soaked and somewhat chilly, since autumn was catching up to them, but between the two of them there was only warmth.

"Good," she answered, toying with the zipper of his blue shirt, "You know what you did wrong?"

"Don't throw you in the water when you're in a bad mood?"

"Don't throw me in water period!" she pinched him, "This hair doesn't magically poof itself, you know."

Martin chuckled, reaching up and tangling his fingers in her hair, which had formed natural ringlets of springy curls while they tousled in the water, "I don't know, I like it like this. Not that I don't like your afro; but this is fun."

"And my afro isn't?"

Martin laughed, white teeth flashing, "Of course it is. I'm just saying."

He toyed with her hair a little more before surprising her with a gentle kiss, nuzzling into her neck and peppering kisses on her which made her shudder and increased the warmth between them tenfold.

She bit back a laugh and a moan, pushing him away, scolding him, "Martin!"

"What?!"

"Ayla could come home any minute, you know that."

He harrumphed, the sound vibrating through his chest into hers, and pulled out his creature pod, fingers flying as he typed up a quick text, "There, see? Taken care of."

Koki squinted at the text:

_Chris, cld u kp Ayla ovr there for a fmh?_

She frowned, "Okay...What on earth does that say?"

Martin blinked, "Uh, can't you tell?"

"F-M-H?"

"Few more hours? It's text-talk!"

"That's not text-talk, that's made up talk," Koki smirked.

"Pfft, you just-" the creature pod pinged, and he quickly turned to the message, frowning.

"What?" Koki grabbed his hand, twisting the creature pod around.

Chris: _Martin, what on __**earth**__? What's F-M-H?_

Koki laughed, and he poked her, "I'll have to talk to Ayla about this..."

"That's what you get for letting a prankster teach you how to type," she snickered, "Oh, and who taught her how to prank people again?"

He snorted, quickly sending back a message before tossing the creature pod over his head and pulling Koki down to kiss her again, his left hand snaking up the back of her shirt as she chuckled and smacked his shoulder.

"Fine, fine...But if we get caught, you sleep in the guest room tonight."

* * *

**Uuuuuhhmmmm...yes, that was a nod to 'The Blue and the Gray' episode...*Whistles innocently* The girls were at school and stuff so other than a few jabs at the brothers for not unpacking the boxes and Aviva being pregnant, nothing changed in that episode 'XD**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and I'm sorry that it's a bit short but next chapter...things will HAPPEN. ^^ Promise XD**


	8. Creature Missions

**Hi people! Here's an update that took FOREVER in happening, but here it be. Sucky creature adventure is sucky, I am so sorry. *hides face in shame* In any case, Cocos is real, Paul Watson is real, Ocean Warrior and the Veradero were real. LIKE REAL LIFE EVENTS IN THIS CHAPTER PEOPLE.**

If you wanna know about what went down in real life, look up 'Sharkwater Documentary' on Youtube. ^^ Worth any animal enthusiast's time. ^^

ANYWAY On with the story! XD

* * *

"Aviva-"

"Chris, I am done talking about this. I am getting on the Tortuga, and I don't care if you think I'm too far along to be helping. If Costa Rica asked for our team personally, then Costa Rica is going to get that team," Aviva marched up to Tortuga, batting aside all of Chris' complaints and attempts to stop her.

Martin sighed as Ayla, now seven years old along with Kate, carefully walked on board. After spending the last six months, starting right after his and Koki's marriage, in their new homes, adjusting to normal life without life threatening adventures every week or every other day, it was nice to be on Tortuga again. Not to say there was anything wrong with a safe, non-life threatening lifestyle, it was...it was nice, but it got a little monotonous from time to time_._ It was kind of good to get back to what was normal to them. Ayla grabbed Kate and ran off to explore the long lost halls and rooms, prancing about happily and paying no heed to the argument behind them.

"Aviva," Chris held out his arms in a supplicating gesture, trying to get his (moody) pregnant wife to listen, "You're eight months pregnant!"

"You think I don't know that?" she whirled around, olive eyes flashing, "I'm the one carrying this kid around 24/7, I'm the one who's back is killing me and whose feet are swollen, and the one who's going to be stuck at home for the next three months until our baby is old enough to be carried on and off the Tortuga, and even then, I won't be able to run around like I used to! Please, please, just let me have this one last mission, Chris, c'mon!"

Martin and Koki shared a look, because all of the missions these last three months had been 'one last mission', according to Aviva, and Chris was running around worried sick the whole time, which judging by the quiet, awkward silences between the two sometimes, hadn't been easy on either of them. The evidence filtered through in the diminished hand holding, the strained looks, the too-relieved hugs after tense, quiet days and long quiet apologies and explosive arguments.

Chris groaned, grabbing his head with his hands and looking skyward, exhaling deeply, trying to calm down and keep from triggering a worse reaction from both himself and Aviva. After a moment, he sighed, relaxing and letting his arms hang down, "Okay, okay, fine. But Aviva, please, promise me this is the last one."

Aviva relaxed as well, giving Chris a quick peck on the cheek before smiling, "Thank you. Sorry about yelling."

Chris slumped, pouting as he followed her into the Tortuga, half whining as he complained, "You didn't promise..."

But he didn't push the issue, and she didn't respond as she turned, and awkwardly made her way back to her invention console, patting it affectionately and sitting down.

JZ marched out of the cock-pit, grinning from ear to ear, "I know I live right behind you guys, but it's not the same as having everyone back in the Tortuga. I miss this."

Chris and Martin shared a look, careful to bite back the comment that the feeling was mutual, though they could already feel a buzz of energy and excitement creeping up their spines; they liked their new houses which were quickly forming into comfortable homes and they loved giving their blossoming families the stability they needed...in some small way, Tortuga still felt like home too. It catered to their wandering hearts and endless curiosity and their first love: Creature Adventuring. It was the symbol of their calling in life and as such they loved it greatly, though not nearly as much as their families...and creature adventuring.

Because both brothers were mature and had their priorities in order, Tortuga was number four on their list of most beloved/important things in life, with Family, all living creatures and creature adventuring coming before. In that order.

Kate and Ayla ran through the main room, shrieking for joy as they chased each other around as Jimmy announced the take off of Tortuga airlines; Koki and Aviva both hid their sighs of relief as they settled back into their places, even if it still felt slightly different than before, it was home to them. As the girls ran through the main room giggling and shrieking (though the shrieking was mostly Ayla) Aviva noted that it had been an entire year since Zach had done anything to them, and half a year since they had seen any of the three original villains at all; Donita having been the first one to seemingly vanish off the grid. Her fashion company was still alive and well, pumping out magazines and make-up and insane clothes and jewelery, but Donita had yet to show her face since about almost a year ago, now.

"Que alivio," she whispered to herself, because, despite all her complaints and fighting, she really didn't want to have to be called into any real action.

_Not now,_ she thought as she smiled and placed a hand on her belly as the baby inside shifted slightly. _Not for a good long time_.

The mission they were going on was somewhat unusual for them, because it had actually been requested by the president of Costa Rica himself.

Cocos was a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific, one of Costa Rica's national parks, and a world heritage site; it was also one of the few remaining sanctuaries for sharks, having the greatest concentration of sharks in the world. However, despite Costa Rica being somewhat better off economically than Mexico, or Guatemala, was short on money and resources to protect the island and it's waters. Poachers raided the waters every day, decimating the shark population.

They had been asked to come, to help raise awareness for the sharks and marine animals being poached illegally. The Kratt brothers being the Kratt brothers, pounced on the opportunity to help.

50 miles into Guatemalan waters, Chris was sitting on the edge of the open door in the invention garage that normally used for driving the Createrra VX out, using his binoculars to keep an eye out for any cool creatures near the surface of the water.

"Hey, Chris, do you see that?"

Martin's gloved hand shot out over his shoulder out to a speck in the ocean, out through the door and Chris raised his binoculars as the girl pouted at having their game interrupted. Squinting, Chris frowned, "Yeah. That's an Costa Rican fishing boat. I doubt they had license to be in Guatemalan waters."

"Dude, I'm not pointing out their license plates. What I'm pointing out is their fishing line," Martin pointed again, chuckling at his brother as Chris watched the fishermen reel in the long fishing line.

"Oh no. They're hunting sharks."

The fishermen had laid down a 'longline', a fishing line that was literally miles and miles long, baited with hooks that caught a vast variety of fish and sea creatures, more often than not animals the fishermen didn't even want and would dump over the boat, either dead or half dead by the time they got to them.

"There's another boat over there," Martin pointed, and Chris shifted his gaze, finding a large boat, much larger than the fishing boat, equipped with what looked like something often dubbed a 'can-opener', a thick, heavy hydraulic steel bar sharpened in case of battle; usually only pirate whaling ships or military ships had any such equipment, and this ship was neither. With a frown, Chris read it's name out loud.

"The Ocean Warrior."

_"Guys?" _Martin's creature pod suddenly projected Koki's face,_ "I'm picking up a lot of radio chatter, most of it in Spanish. There's a Costa Rican boat down there illegally hunting sharks in Guatemalan waters, from what the Ocean Warrior is saying, and Guatemalan authorities have asked them to bring the boat in to be arrested."_

"Is there anything we can do?" Martin asked, and Koki shrugged.

"_Ocean Warrior seems to have this one covered human side."_

Aviva's face suddenly filled the hologram, "_Ay, que __emocionante__! Do you know who's boat that is, guys?"_

Both brothers shrugged, "Uhm, no...should we?"

"_That's Paul Watson's ship; he was the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and once an influential member of Greenpeace! I mean, he doesn't always have the best tactics, but he has been a huge help in stopping many illegal whaling ships."_

"Awesome. It's always good to have helping hands," Chris smiled, as Martin grabbed his wetsuit, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"I'm going down there to see if we can save any creatures on that line before the fishermen get to them."

"Good idea bro," Chris reached out, grabbing his own wetsuit as Martin pulled his diving mask on.

"To the Creature Rescue!"

"_Be careful guys. We'll keep watch," _Koki saluted them as they dove from Tortuga into the water, breaking the surface of the blue water like blue and green human sized bullets. Once below water, they wasted no time, swimming in a beeline against the ocean currents to the long line being reeled in to the boat. The first animal they saw trapped was not a shark, but a turtle, sluggishly moving it's flippers against the reams of fishing line entangling it, it's mouth opening and closing slowly in the final throes of pain and death by drowning.

"Oh no!" pulling out his creature pod, Martin activated the pocket knife function, quickly working to cut the Olive Ridley sea turtle out, "Be right back, Chris."

Chris nodded, wide eyed as Martin swam to the surface with the turtle to allow it to breath again, before turning his attentions to the rest of the line, which was moving a little too fast for his liking. The fishermen were trying to get as many sharks as fast as they could before being forced inland. Latching on to the line, he quickly found the next victim of the ruthless method of hunting; a sailfish. In it's panic, it had wrapped itself so tightly in the fishing line that it could not longer breath. Frowning as a lump grew in his throat, he cut the magnificent creature free.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, pained as the body floated downwards, before sighing and moving on to the next creature...

Now this one _was_ a shark, the creature the fishermen were actually after. A very _unhappy _shark. Chris felt his heart suddenly jolt in panic, and the shark almost seemed even more upset when that happened, thrashing frantically against the hook in his mouth, his gray body rippling with pure power and strength.

Taking a look at the shark's fins, Chris cringed. They'd fetch a fortune on the market...He had to figure a way to get the predator off the line without getting too close to the saw-like teeth.

"Hey, big guy, uh, heh, I'm here to help you?" he tried to introduce himself, despite knowing it would do nothing to soothe or help the shark. The creature simply couldn't hear him through the water, especially not while thrashing like that.

Glancing up at the sound of a boat, he smiled to see Koki's boat pull up next to Martin, taking the injured turtle in to be taken care of on Tortuga. Without too much delay, Martin dove back under, taking in the shark's condition as he swam.

"Whoa, that's one big angry shark," he frowned, before grinning at Chris, "Remora sub?"

"Great idea, Martin!" with a bit of relief, the younger Kratt pulled out the miniaturizer, making their way to the boat still above them. Surfacing, Chris was surprised to find Kate and Ayla on the boat with Koki. His daughter waved at him, smiling cheerily, happy to be helping on a creature rescue, while Ayla was too preoccupied with the turtle to really notice them.

"Hi Daddy!"

"Hi, Kate. Think you can tell your Uncle Jimmy to send us the remora sub?"

The little girl nodded, turning to the communication console as Martin and Chris climbed into the boat, rocking it a bit and earning themselves a mock-glare from Koki as she worked with the turtle.

"What's up?" she asked.

Martin held up his hands, sending sea water flying into the air, a smile on his face, "There's a shark-"

"A rather _large _shark-" Chris added.

"On a hook and-"

"He's must have only_ just _gotten hooked because-"

"He's still going at it with a fury!"

"If he keeps at it too much longer, he could wrap himself in the line," Chris flipped the miniaturizer onto the floor, and it opened with a hiss and a flicker of light as Martin picked up the lull.

"And sharks need to keep moving in order to keep breathing," that earned him a surprised glance from Ayla and Kate as he climbed onto the miniaturizer with Chris, "Sharks never stop swimming in their entire lives!"

"Don't they get tired?" Kate asked, eyes wide.

"Don't they ever sleep?" Ayla was gawking at the thought of always moving no matter what.

Their answers were interrupted by the miniaturizer activating and making their dads mini-size just as the remora sub popped into existence next to Koki, who caught it easily.

"Thanks Jimmy!"

She held the sub out for the brothers to climb into, and placed it in the water.

"Save that shark!" Ayla cheered.

Chris and Martin laughed, "We will!"

"You concentrate on saving Riddler."

"Rid-what now?" Koki smirked playfully at her husband, "You named the turtle already?"

"Ridd_ler_. And of course I did," he winked back at her before closing the hatch to the sub as she chuckled and rolled her eyes, turning back to Riddler, who was groggily coming to and trying to move away from the big dangerous humans around her.

Chris eagerly took to the controls of the sub, and set off for the shark, frowning because the line had been pulled even closer, bringing the Veradero into sight underwater

"We need to hurry, Chris."

"I know," Chris answered, biting his lip briefly as he slowed down, coming up next to the shark as close to the big, gray toothy mouth as he dared before gently attaching. The shark hardly seemed to notice, swimming against the line briefly before thrashing around in as wide a circle as he could considering the line attached to him. Giving Martin the thumbs up, he made sure they were attached correctly, his eyes following Martin to the hatch.

"I'll stay here, because once that shark is free, he's not going to want to stick around; I'll detach the sub and pick you up."

Martin nodded, grinning, "Okay..."

Taking a deep breath, the older brother collected his courage and swam out into the blue again.

The shark was still thrashing, and Martin yelped, swimming the short distance from the sub to the hook on the shark's mouth as quickly as possible, he hung onto the hook and the line for dear life.

"Whoa!" he tried to activate the pocket knife function on his knife, but every time he almost pushed the button, the shark flailed, causing him to almost lose his grip and struggle to get a better hold on the line, "Aghh, you're a fighter alright. Yyaaggghh! Okay, okay, I get it!"

With one last effort that nearly got him flung out into the ocean, he managed to activate the pocket knife and sighed in relief only to gasp as the line began to pull the shark _out _of the water.

With a gasp, he sawed through the fishing line as quickly as he could, somehow not being fast enough, because now he could see the fishermen eagerly reaching down for the shark, machetes ready to slice off fins the moment the fish was in reach. Setting his jaw, he changed tactics, placing the blade of the pocket-knife below the line and yanking upwards with all his strength and a grunt of effort, the tension snapping as the line was cut, leaving both Martin and the shark suspended in the air, weightless, for the slightest of seconds before plummeting back into the water. With a yelp from the tiny human attached to the hook in his mouth, the stunned shark rolled through the water for a few feet before the fish righted himself and made off for safer waters at a speed that might have astonished some people With a grin, Martin let go of the hook still embedded in the shark's jaw, waving good-bye as the shark vanished into the blue, "Good-bye, Rocky!"

The remora sub mechanically swam up behind him, Chris giving his brother bemused look through the glass, "Rocky?"

"Yup."

"...Like the _movie_?"

"Like the movie."

After spending a couple of hours running similar rescues along the miles and miles and miles of fishing line formerly attached to the Veradero fishing boat – which Paul Watson and his _'Ocean Warrior' _were escorting to a Guatemalan port to be arrested last they checked – Martin and Chris returned to Tortuga, shimmying out of their wetsuits and into dry clothing before collapsing in the main room. Kate and Ayla giggled as Koki playfully patted Martin's head, "Remind me again who was the one 'ready and raring' for this mission?"

With a groan and a sheepish smile, Martin reached up, ignoring her yelp of surprise as he pulled her down onto the floor with him.

"Martin!"

"Uuuhh, just lemme rest here till we get there," he pouted as he wrapped himself around her, buring his face into the back of her shoulder as Koki glared at nothing in particular, upset with Martin for pulling her on to the floor. In his defense, he was cushioning her head with his arm, which was aching from the strenuous swimming he had done; Rocky hadn't been the only unhappy creature caught on that line.

"But Daddy," Ayla bounced around, "We're already at Cocos!"

With sharp gasps, both Chris and Martin jolted upwards, eyes wide as they glanced out the now open door, not even having noticed landing. Chris chuckled with a groan and stood up; there were some days he didn't quite appreciate as much how fast Tortuga could move. Martin pouted and let himself fall back down again, hardly noticing Koki getting up and brushing off all the grunge on her clothes.

"Oh, boy...well, at least now we have first hand experience with longlining," the older brother groaned, mustering the energy and strength together to get back up on his feet. Chris offered him a sympathetic look and held out his hand; he had been out there as much as Martin had and was beat as well.

Martin clasped his hand around his brother's forearm and together they got him up in one go, a grin coming over his face as he shifted back into his more energetic state, "Alright! Let's go raise some awareness!"

"Can we come with you?" Kate asked, but Aviva shook her head.

"Not this time, mi'ja. Mommy needs you right here on Tortuga. Besides, I have a feeling we'll be coming back here once your dad and uncle aren't so worn out," Aviva chuckled as Kate pouted slightly.

"What about me?" Ayla tugged on Martin's arm to get his attention. Turning to her, he brushed some of the curls that had come loose from her ponytails away from her face, smiling.

"Well, I think you should sit this one out, sweetheart. Like your aunt says, we are gonna be coming back later to explore the creatures here better, but not today. Okay?"

Ayla pouted, but nodded, "Okay, Daddy. But we are coming back?"

"You can bet on it."

She beamed up at him, "Okay! I'll stay."

Despite her many subtle attempt to convince her mom and aunt to come outside with her and Kate, Ayla remained inside the Tortuga for the majority of the trip, much to her annoyance. She crawled through all the ventilation shafts, scared Jimmy a few times, planted pranks for when Jimmy went to bed that night, played with Kate and got absolutely bored until Martin and Chris finally returned and they were able to go home. She laughed in relief and hugged Aviva, around her big tummy which she now couldn't wrap her arms around, and got kicked in the face by her future cousin.

She grinned, blue eyes sparkling, "He likes me."

Kate immediately protested, "He's a she, Ayla! I'm gonna have a sister!"

"Nope. It's a boy. He told me," Ayla laughed, kissing Aviva's tummy before letting go, "And I know what his name is gonna be, but I can't tell you that, cause it's a secret for now."

"Ayla. Don't make things up like that," Koki admonished, and Ayla frowned.

"But I'm not! It's true!"

"Ayla, we've talked about lying-"

"But momma, it's not a lie! When he's born tonight, you'll see for yourself," Ayla pouted, running to Martin for comfort as Koki frowned. Aviva laughed, shrugging her shoulders.

"It's fine, Koki."

"Not if she's lying, it's not," Koki mused worriedly, as Kate pouted and hugged Aviva's tummy.

"It's a sister, mommy. I want a sister," she mumbled and Aviva rubbed her daughter's head.

"Sweetheart, you know we don't know what the baby is yet. If you get a baby brother, you'll love him too, right?"

"Of course...But I want a sister," Kate sighed, before frowning, "Mom, your tummy is getting all hard."

"That's called a Braxton-Hicks. It's like a fake contraction that gets your mom ready for the real thing," Koki supplied, packing up her things as North America became visible through Tortuga HQ's windows. Aviva frowned, placing a hand over her abdomen.

"Actually, Koki...I think this _is_ the real thing."

Ayla poked her head in, "I told you he was coming tonight. It _is_ the eighteenth, right?"

"Who's coming tonight?" Chris looked over, smiling, and Aviva pointed towards her belly.

He quickly lost his smile.

* * *

**Unintentional cliffhanger was unintentional. ANYWAY, I gotta go really quick or my parents will catch me using the computer when I'm supposed to be in bed. Huge thanks to the people who helped me with ideas on how to get Rocky off the longline, and thanks to emeraldsandopals for Riddler's name! I appologize if I can't name animals as cool-...as cool-ly...*blinks because she knows the word is completely wrong* erm...If I can't name animals as awesomely as Martin can.**

It's because Martin is epic and I'm not.

XD JK, jk.

But seriously, he is. Alongside his cool brother Chris, of course.

**_ANYWAY GOTTA GO BYE BYE HOPE YOU ENJOYED._**


End file.
